Only in Your Dreams
by akaeve
Summary: A short story written as a responce to a challenge on the NFA Community site


**Only In Your Dreams**

He emerged from the sea, like Daniel Craig in **Casino Royale**, the water, beginning to evaporate, leaving a white crystalline film over His Firm Muscled body. The crystals would double the tanning effect. He fell exhausted and tired on the beach. The coral had scratched His back. The salt water acting as an astringent, but oh so, so painful. The sand, fine and white, flotsam lay scattered round His tanned form. He coughed, as He spat the excess sand from His lips.

As He became accustomed to His surroundings, He noticed the beauty and tranquillity of the Island. But something bothered Him. It was the silence. He was too tired to bother, but as He lay composing Himself, He became aware of the sounds. The Parrots in the trees, the Monkeys screeching, they had been as unsure of Him at first, as He of the Island and Them. They had now started to laugh at Him, or so He thought. This was not New York, Washington or any place He knew, this was different. He was out of His depth.

He looked about trying to get bearings when He spied a figure. She bounded towards Him. Her long dark brown hair flowing, in the warm El Nino wind, behind Her. She flopped down by His side. She licked His face.

"Go away Kate." looking into the dark brown eyes now showing rejection. " Oh come here you silly girl" He looked at the creature. It reminded him of a Spaniel. Could this be the **Island of Dr Moreau**? The creature stared at Him with hurt doleful eyes. "Silly Girl" He looked at Her again. He stroked Her hair. He just loved Her. Her loyalty. He rolled over onto His back, which was a bad move, as the sand cut into the scratches. "Ouch" sitting up, He listened to the sounds of the forest. The parrots in the palm trees screeching, the surf rolling in. Suddenly He became aware of a silence spreading across the forest. The birds falling quiet, something had disturbed them. The creature lying beside Him stood up. Staring at the tree line, before sprinting off into the undergrowth. "Kate, heel" He shouted "I'm talking to Her as if she was an animal" starting to run after Her.

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He ran to the tree line. The tidal edge leaving drift wood and the remains of the dead leaves. The sand no longer soft and white, now hard and abrasive on his naked soles. "Ouch" He cried. " Need to toughen up if I am going to survive here. Now where did She go? Kate, bad Dog. No, sorry wench, sorry Partner. Here Katie, Katie."

Entering the forest, He became accustomed to the diffused light. The shadows it threw, gave the imagination a scare. His hearing, coming into par, He began to hear the sound of tapping. "No, just a termite" He muttered to Himself. But His training. It began to pick up the Morse Code. "No this is how John F. Kennedy must have been portrayed in **PT-109" **. He wondered if They were watching Him. Who was watching. Was it only the Monkeys or were there others as He knew there always was. Pirates. Natives, and if so were they friendly. "Yuck" He thought I might just be tomorrows lunch., and Me not the best eater in the world. He wondered if Gibbs was watching. Well, He used to do this for a living. He was good, following watching, surprising the unexpected. He kept expecting a slap on the head. It never came. The silence was overwhelming. Except for the sound of His breathing and the occasional twig broken under foot. Hell, what was the tapping saying? "I wish Gibbs was here" He muttered again. "Kate, Kate, Good Girl , where are You?"

"Look, Tony, I'm right behind You. Stop messing about. You're **Lost** aren't You? Admit it?"

"No I'm not, I have a map. It's like the one given by Robert Carlyle, Mr Duck aka Daffy Ducky to Leonardo DiCaprio aka Richard,in the **Beach**"

"No Tony, it's of **Treasure Island**. That's gonna get Us far. So are you gonna leave the map to Ziva and Ducky? "

"Ziva???, She replaced You. You never met Her."

"I know, but I'm a ghost and I can do what I want. I've met Her."

"Anyway I know where I'm going. Tomorrow is another day." smiling at Kate.

"Stop it Tony, this is not a film script. And You'll be **Gone with the Wind **if You're not careful"

"You've changed again. Now You're like Ralph or was it Jack, in **Lord of the Flies, **bossy as Hell"

"OOOOOOOOOOOO, Tony You're impossible. Someone has to take charge" turning away.

"Kate come back, pleeeeeeeeeeeese I didn't mean it"

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He followed His deceased partner out into the now blinding sunlight, "God I wish I had My Ray-Bans." as He tried to focus. As His eyes became accustomed to the now mid-day sun, He looked into the horizon. What He saw shocked Him. A horse and on it two figures. The Female had Her arms round the Mans' waist. He looked familiar. They were laughing.

"No Boss. Don't go on. You won't like what You see, round the tree-line" as He sinks to His knees on the sand, like Charlton Heston, in **Planet of the Apes **throwing His fists to the ground "Please no, no."

Looking at the white sand. So white and fine, He became aware of footprints. He wasn't alone, or was He . He remembered stories of castaways walking round looking for the person with the feet ,only to find they were their own. "Kate. Where are You? Is this You. What day was it" He wondered. "How long have I been stranded on this Island with only Me. Me. I used to like Me, but I'm nothing without the others".

He thought of McGee, always the brunt of His jokes, no must be nicer to McGee. Ziva who always got the English sayings mixed up, Oh He wished He could hear Her voice again and even feel Her on top like when They were undercover in **Under Covers. **Now Ducky and Mr Palmer, could He actually stay too long in their company? If He had to, yes. As for Gibbs. I miss the slap. God I'm getting morbid. No follow the footprints.

Walking along the deserted beach, with the wind in His hair and the sun beating down on His back, He thought to this could be heaven. He remembered a film, **Local Hero, **where an old beachcomber lived in a snug driftwood shack on the shore. "Yes that's who, and what I will become, a beachcomber. I'll live off the sea, could make my own alcohol, distilled from coconut milk. All I need now is someone to share this idyllic world with. Thinking things out, He decided that the Robinson Crusoe scenario might suit Him. What if the footsteps led Him to something He liked, someone who wanted Him. He wanted to well, full fill His dream. What if …………………… Only in my dreams.

As the evening sun began to descend on the island He became aware that the birds and the animals were beginning to settle down for the night. They all had mates They had, their other half ,their …………. He didn't, hadn't found the perfect partner. Gibbs, He had had 4 wives, only the first the perfect mate. Was that the woman He saw on the horse, Shannon. If He saw Kate again He would, well would She…….Well what about Ziva, no she wasn't here………"Well there's nothing like a dame" He thought He heard someone sing or was it in His mind.

As He followed the music, the singing. **South Pacific, **it was the stage play that launched Sean Connery on to the film set and down as Bond. James Bond , special Agent. That was what He was a Special Agent.

"I'm gonna Wash That Man right out of My hair, Some Enchanted Evening, when I'm 110 pounds of fun, on Bali Ha'i, and as High as a Kite on the fourth of July, I'm gonna meet some Wonderful Guy (Gibbs? there are so many Marines out here is He there?).She sang.

" I would be happy for some Happy Talk with a Honey Bun" He muttered.

As He watched the figure emerge from the rock pool, clad only in the hide skin bikini, She reminded Him of Ursula Andress in **Dr No**. Oh He, was going to like it here. It was just the place for someone of His…………"And You are again?" She asked seductively?

In His best Sean Connery voice He replied, "Specciall Aaggent Tony ,00.…….. Ouch ahhh Oooooh" as the coconut fell from the tree onto His foot.

"DiNOZZO"

"Boss, I thought………"as Tony opens His eyes and stares into the face of His Superior.

"Well don't. Next time You change a light bulb use the ladder, not the chair" as Gibbs stares at Tony lying on the floor. The Gibbs smile said it all, as He walks away-- Only in Your Dreams………….


End file.
